


Noble Qualities

by Crescental



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, and most know he isn't a menace, people love Spider-man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 12:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2150313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crescental/pseuds/Crescental
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spider-man does the obvious of stopping crimes, but there are smaller things he does that really differentiate him from a common vigilante and tells people he isn't a menace, like helping an old lady cross the street or comforting a kid. A collection of one-shots of these instances and of people supporting and standing up for Spider-man</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noble Qualities

Spider-man performed multiple backflips as he zoomed to the ground. The wind blasted past him, and he shouted in glee.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, he shot a web to a nearby building and swung next to the cars at their level on the street. The honks of horns and excited shouts of the citizens of New York City fell behind his ears as he swished up to the sky to then perform more front flips and backflips.

The man in the red and blue tights then maneuvered himself to stick to the side of a brick building, and the adrenaline in his system slowly faded away.

He sighed in bliss in his awkward-looking position that was actually quite comfortable to him.

It was surprisingly a pretty peaceful day; he had only run into two muggings in his day of work.

Peter's gaze moved from the sun that was beginning to set to the streets far below, and he watched the many people and cars move along to their destinations.

He chuckled at how oblivious the people were to his presence above them since all they had to do was look up to see him.

Spider-man's attention was then captured by a noticeably small figure that stood out among all the others around it. The person was huddled next to a small pink backpack at the entrance of an alley a little below him.

The masked man crawled down the wall and was surprised to see it was a little girl (Peter estimated she was about six years old) with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes; blue eyes that were filled with despair. They were aimed at the knees she was clutching to her chest.

Concern filled Peter as he managed to hear a sad sniffle from the little girl above the common noises of New York City, and he noticed her blue overalls, pink shirt, and white shoes were coated in mud.

He examined the area for her possible parent. Anger filled him when everyone walked by the upset little girl not even batting an eye. Deducing that her parents weren't around, he jumped down in front of her with a quiet thud.

Though he made no sound, he felt any and all eyes in the immediate vicinity turn to him.

Peter ignored them and focused on the little girl's shocked and startled ones, but a smile lit her face.

"You're Spider-man!"

"What gave it away?" He chuckled at her and crouched so he was closer to her eye level.

She opened her mouth to respond, and Peter snickered at the cute fact that the girl didn't know when a question was rhetorical. He messed up her hair by placing a hand on her head and rubbing it around.

"So what're doing out here?"

She removed his much larger hand with her two smaller ones from her head playfully, but she grew somber at his question.

"Nothin'," she replied in a barely audible mutter.

Peter frowned underneath his mask, realizing that something really was wrong.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

The girl shook her head; the short blonde curls bounced at the action.

She obviously wanted to keep her problem to herself and seemed to be sitting alone to try and deal with it. For Peter to help her, he would have to get her to open up and reveal her troubles to him, hopefully her family wasn't anti-Spider-man like a certain someone called J. J. Jameson.

Peter stood up and reached a hand down for her to grab which she did, and she stood alongside him, still holding his hand.

"Mind if I take you home?"

She shook her head again in a no and smiled up at him. The child pointed in the direction of her house and said her address.

"Oh, but can we walk there? My uncle wouldn't be very happy if he found out I went flying above the streets with you."

He nodded in a yes, especially since he had already planned on walking her home, and chuckled at the kid. They started to walk through the crowd on the sidewalk in the direction of her house. Peter ignored the anonymous comment that came from one of the surrounding people of him being a child kidnapper.

Suddenly, he realized the girl's comment about her uncle not being happy, not her parents. Going against his better judgement, he commented on it. "So… your uncle wouldn't be happy about it? What about your parents?"

He regretted asking, like he knew he would, at her now depressed demeanor. "My parents left me when I was three. I live with my uncle now, and my aunt passed away recently."

Peter was immediately filled with empathy for the little girl and wanted to comfort her in any way possible, now knowing that she was very similar to him.

Instantly, he wanted to know her, and he wanted her to know him, within reason of course, to let her know she wasn't alone.

He swiftly and unexpectedly picked her up and set her on his shoulder. She gave a short squeal; her hands lightly grabbed the top of his mask and bunched the material up in her small hands.

"Careful with the mask." The little girl quickly let go of the spandex and laughed, and he chuckled along with her. "So, what's your name?"

"Whitney."

"Whitney, huh? Pretty name, suits you." She beamed down at him, happy at the subject being changed. Peter opened his mouth to talk again, but she swiftly placed her tiny palms onto Peter's mouth. His hand on her waist kept her from falling off of his shoulder. Placing her hands on top of his mouth had effectively stopped him from talking as he was extremely surprised that Whitney had been able to tell he had been about to talk.

The little girl giggled, sensing his shock, and removed her hands from his face.

"You have to tell me your name now," she said, somehow managing to be fierce in the demand.

"You want me to tell you my name?" He asked incredulously. He was utterly amazed at the little girl. She wasn't the tiny angel she looked like. Peter spared a quick glance at the people around him. Every pair of eyes was on him, but, luckily, most kept walking and only some stopped to stare.

His eyes turned back to Whitney just in time to see her head bob up and down in a yes.

"It's Spider-man…?" He said, but it had the tone of a question since he was hoping she would except that answer.

"No dummy, your actual name." Whitney crossed her arms and huffed with a look that said, "just because I'm was little doesn't mean I'm dumb." Peter laughed and was well aware of that the number of people stopping to watch him was growing in amount, probably due to the fact it seemed he was about to say his name. He wished people would have the decency to mind there own business, or better yet, stop by a crying girl to see if she was okay, but no, of course not.

Spider-man hummed in thought. He had jumped down next to her to comfort her and figure out what was wrong, and so far, he was managing to distract her from whatever was bugging her. But the fact that her past was so similar to his, and the fact that he plain loved this girl, really compelled him to tell her. Yeah, he found himself thinking, telling one little girl won't hurt.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?"

She nodded and bit her lip in excitement.

"Pinky swear?" Whitney actually rolled her eyes at him. Spider-man laughed, and her small pinky wrapped around his (or attempted to).

He leaned in closer to her to make sure only she would hear him, hoping that the loud sounds of New York would also aid him. "It's Peter."

Spider-man's eyes widened underneath his mask, surprised at himself for telling her his actual name instead of a fake one, but for some reason, he felt okay telling her.

Her hands shot to her mouth to muffle a giggle. "Hehe, pee."

This time Peter rolled his eyes at her, but then remembered she couldn't see it.

She, again, was somehow able to tell he did just that and burst out laughing, and he snickered along with her. He swore that her superpower was being able to know just what a person was about to do by observing their body movements. Yep, he could totally imagine it: Spider-man and his sidekick Observation-girl.

It grew quiet between them while New York City and its noise continued around them.

Spider-man stayed quiet, having a feeling that Whitney was about to tell him something. It was found true when she spoke a couple moments after.

"I was being bullied."

He turned his head to her, knowing that she would get that he wanted her to continue.

"I was about to walk home from school when these mean girls pushed me into a pile of mud, and then I tried to run home but they followed me. I lost them by turning into an alley," she shrugged. "And then I just hung out there for a bit."

Peter ground his teeth together, mad at the thought of vicious six year olds chasing poor Whitney down for no apparent reason.

"Do they bully you often?"

The blond girl nodded, but her head perked up to the right. "We're at my house."

He looked over as well at the small apartment complex.

The masked man slowly put her down on the ground, but he didn't remove his hand from her waist. Peter knelt down to get near her eye level, then removed his hand to place it on her shoulder.

"Let me tell you something, Whitney." Her blue eyes stared expectantly at the white lenses of Spider-man. "You are way better than they ever will be." Her eyes widened as if she was surprised at this information.

"Really?"

"Of course you are. Would I lie?" Whitney giggled, and he decided to reveal a little more personal information. "I got bullied all the time as a kid."

"Really?" She asked again, though this time she asked out of genuine surprise.

"Didn't we just go over this?" She laughed again. "But seriously, I did, all the time, and look at how I turned out."

The blonde girl seemed to turn sad, but he knew she was mocking him. Whitney bit her lip in a pout, "I don't wanna be a lame superhero." Spider-man gasped, feigning hurt. They chuckled at the same time.

"You know, you're pretty vicious for a six year old."

"I'm seven," she looked angry when she said that; the key word was looked. Mirth was hidden in her deep blue eyes.

"And lemme' guess, you turned seven recently?"

Whitney nodded with a smile and a laugh, "Yep, last week."

They sat in that happy atmosphere for a little bit before Peter continued.

"Whitney, if those girls really are bothering you, just talk to a friend and get them to help you out."

The blonde girl shook her head, "I don't have any friends."

His eyes widened, shocked at the fact a cute girl like her didn't have any friends. That was going to change. "You have me don't you?"

Whitney stared at him for a few seconds before she smiled and laughed, but not because something was funny but because she was happy.

"And I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can make lots of friends."

"Really?" He tilted his head as if saying, "you want to go over this again?"

Her giggles grew as Peter's hand moved to her head and messed up her hair.

"Alright kid, I'd better go."

Whitney then truly turned gloomy. "But that doesn't mean I won't visit," he quickly said.

She jumped in joy and nearly suffocated Peter by hugging his neck like her life depended on it. "Thank you Pet-"

He gently shushed her, reminding her not to yell his name out.

The seven year old giggled, "Thank you Mr. Spider-man." She put emphasis on the Mr. as if she knew if would annoy him, maybe she did know.

Before he could complain about the name, she ran to the front door of the apartment complex and slammed it shut. Her laughter was heard even through the door.

He sighed, trying to suppress his own laughter. Peter loved that somewhat mature seven year old, and he honestly couldn't wait to visit again.  
Just as he turned to web-swing away, the front door opened to reveal Whitney who now looked slightly guilty.

"Mr. Spider-man?" She said, sticking to that nickname.

"Yeah…?" He asked apprehensively, noticing she looked nervous though she was obviously hiding happiness.

"I-uh- left my backpack in the alley."

He was glad his mask covered his smile, even though he was pretty sure she already knew it was there. Peter pretended to be frustrated and irritated, "C'mon, let's go get it."

Whitney happily skipped over to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him forward in the direction of her backpack.

I swear, Spider-man thought, she did that on purpose.


End file.
